Say goodbye to hard water

Six stone-built farm houses in one of Britain's chilliest cities - Aberdeen - are testing one of the newest forms of heating in a bid to slash Britain's use of fossil fuels. With the help of Ice Energy Scotland, the six traditional farms have had heat pumps installed by Aberdeen City Council. The heat pumps - a technology developed in Sweden - can cut CO2 emissions and heating bills by up to 70%.

There is also a Government grant available which can pay for up to 30% of the installation costs.

They work by tapping into the earth's ability to absorb and store heat from the sun.

Just three feet down, the temperature is always two or three degrees above surface temperature.

This heat is extracted from the earth using a ground loop buried in the garden.

A special mixture of water and environmentally safe anti-freeze solution is circulated through the buried pipes where it absorbs the heat from the surrounding earth.

The pump works like a fridge in reverse, and is so effective that it can even extract heat from a block of ice.

All six farmhouses had either coal fires or electric storage heaters as the form of heating before the heat pumps were installed and the Council aims to identify whether the use of heat pumps can achieve affordable warmth for the occupants of the 'hard to treat' Victorian properties.

And the results are already looking good since the installation of the heat pumps a couple of weeks ago.

Helen Raich, one of the farm house residents, says, 'I was a bit concerned when I heard the council wanted to install heat pumps, but they are amazing! They keep the house warm all the time'.

'I'm looking forward to seeing just how much money I can save with having them installed'.

'I would recommend heat pumps to everyone.' Ice Energy Scotland, Scotland's leading supplier of heat pumps, will monitor the running costs for a full 12 months after installation to measure reductions in fuel consumption and costs.

Stewart Warwick, Director of Ice Energy Scotland, said, 'More and more people realise that fossil fuels will not be around forever'.

'They see how much money they will save in the long run by using heat pumps instead of traditional boilers - and all of our clients say they wish they had known about this earlier!' 'Heat pumps are really beginning to catch on, not only here in Scotland, but across the whole of the UK as a domestic heating appliance'.

'Solar energy, which the heat pumps use, is a renewable source of energy and it will never run out, making heat pumps the energy option of the future.' The heat pumps have a 25 year life expectancy and with the low running costs, owners will save money on their heating bills immediately.